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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Church screens Life of Brian

Back in the day, Monty Pythons' Life of Brian caused a near riot at the church I attended. Members demonstrated outside of local theaters. Bible studies and youth group meetings were dedicated developing protest material, writing letters, and planning acts of civil disobedience. By day, I worked to stop the film, by night I watched the film at a local drive-in.

Pastor Ken told us anyone who watched the movie was sinning against God and would go straight to hell. I was already well into developing serious doubts about my faith by the time the movie was released, so the threat of eternal damnation did not scare me. Plus, I was a skeptic even as a kid, I needed to see it for myself. The movie turned out to be one of the funniest films ever produced. The controversy faded quickly, at one point even prompting embarrassed chuckles from people who were gung ho for burning down theaters a few months before.